Project Shadow
by DIM666 - Insane Leader
Summary: This is a story. On how a series of tragic events led to the creation of the Ultimate Life, and what that Ultimate Life did. This is the story of Gerald Robotnik, Maria Robotnik, and Shadow the Hedgehog, and how the events that they did 60 years ago unfolded and impacted everything up to 2002. Posted on Shadow the Hedgehog's 11th Birthday.
1. Enter ARK, 1952

New fic. This is basically my prequel to 'Faded Memories'. It lasts from before Shadow's creation up to the conclusion of SAB2. I've wanted to do this for some time. However, at the start this fic may seem totally disconnected to Faded Memories, but rather, I'm going to be trying to also fill in several 'holes' in the genetic and plot backgrounds in the Sonic the Hedgehog series with the opening three chapters. This only takes place in the games Era. Also, there will be some ShadowxMaria, but only as a close friendship, I'm not trying to portray them as lovers. Shadouge and Shadamy hints also, but I'm not going to degenerate this to a love triangle fic, or a romance fiction at all.

Still, let's do this. HERE WE GO!

* * *

-United States Space Colony ARK-June 12th, 1952-Sick Bay-

"Doctor…" The young boy wheezed out, trying desperately to keep his breath.

"We'll do whatever we can for you Japheth. I swear it." The old, bald, gray mustached doctor said.

"Doctor…no…"

"No?" Gerald Robotnik looked at the young boy in confusion.

"Don't try and kill yourself to save me."

"But Japheth!"

"I'm ready to meet my maker. I don't want to endure this pain any longer."

"But what if we can treat you, and cure you?"

The deathly pale young boy wheezed again, his chest heaving rapidly but little to no air getting to his lungs. "If that is what you want to do this for, then go ahead. But…" He heaved again, and couldn't continue the words.

"Doctor, his condition is worsening!"

"I know that Jane!" Robotnik called, shouting over his shoulder.

"…but please…tell your gra-" He heaved again, having trouble getting the 'nd' out of his mouth. "daughter that I e-e-ehoyed her companee."

"Okay. But Japheth, I promise you that we will be able to save you!"

"Don't worry." The 12 year old male turned his head and looked back at the ceiling, still gasping for breath.

"Jane, do you have that morphine ready?"

"Sorry Doctor. The last batch we had received was contaminated, remember?"

"Arrghh." The doctor ran his hand over his bald head in frustration. "Can we do anything for him until the injection?"

"I don't think so sir. We can only hope."

"How long will it take to get the Chaos energy ready?"

"Another three hours. We'll try to make him as comfortable as possible…but…Gerald." The Asian nurse looked at ARK's lead scientist and sighed. "I don't know if it'll be soon enough."

"It's our only chance."

"Doctor, why don't use rest for a bit. You won't be able to help us any if you are tired."

"I know, I know!" The 60-something scientist began pacing back and forth. "I should go. I have another project to get to." he remarked to himself, whispering other utterances under his breath.

However, when he stepped out he was greeted with a sight that normally would of cheered him up, but could do nothing in the current situation. "Grandfather, will Japheth be okay?"

Robotnik looked down at his granddaughter, and sighed in disappointment. "I-I don't know right now Maria. I really don't." He ran his hand through her blonde, curly hair. She should have been up to his chest by now, but the NIDS she had, the same disease Japheth had, kept her body from growing at the speed it should have.

"I want him to live." She innocently stated. Turning away and walking downwards, she turned back over her shoulder and looked at her grandfather. "But if that won't work, can you at least make him happy?"

"I can try Maria. I can try." He watched as the young girl, wearing a simple bright blue dress walked down the halls of ARK.

* * *

-25 minutes later-

"It's only 55,000 miles outside of the contact zone. I might be able to send a probe out to catch some excess debris from it's dust tail." Gerald remarked, looking through a telescope that was pointing out one of the 13 inch thick windows. "But I still will need to destroy it. That thing will still hit earth on it's next cycle." He remarked, looking at the famed 'dark comet' that his other grandson had discovered. Unlike Maria, who was his daughter's daughter, his son's son seemed to inherit his own intellect. While 'entertaining himself' in the same room that Gerald was in now, Ivo had found what appeared to be a moving black void. It wasn't reflecting any light off of the sun or surrounding stars, which would explain why it had been missed for so many years.

"The Black Comet. I'm going to see just what secret thing allows the light to be bent around it that keeps it so well hidden. It may prove useful." Walking over to a panel on the side of the window he was looking out, he pressed a button inward. A low buzz sounded, and a masculine voice replied on the other end.

"What is it sir?"

"Status report on Project Eclipse?"

"We are running slightly ahead of schedule sir. At this rate, we'll have it done within a day or two."

"Good to know Joshua." He released that button, and sat down in his reclining office chair. "Maybe I could catch a few minutes worth of a nap. Maybe…I could just…" With that his eyes closed behind his glasses, and sleep captured the old man.

* * *

I think some things are obvious as to what is going to happen. The 'Black Comet' is obviously Black Doom's ship, and Project Eclipse is obviously the Eclipse Cannon. Playing SAB2 really inspired me to write this, and this is kind of my side project. I hope you enjoyed, and REVIEW! and HAPPY SHADOW DAY!


	2. Death

Next chapter! Now things will come together a bit faster, and you should start being able to see where everything falls into place. I hope you'll enjoy this, as it is going to be very complicated this chapter and the next, so pay close attention.

I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog, or any other related characters. I am in no way making any profit off of using them in this story. Enjoy, because HERE WE GO!

* * *

-United States Space Colony ARK-June 12th, 1952-Robotnik's Office-

"Sir." Jane pushed a little harder on the old man's shoulder, calling a bit louder. "Sir!"

"Wha? Huh? What happened?" Gerald asked, finally awaking from his 'nap'.

"The Chaos Cure is ready. But…we don't know how well it will work."

"Did you extract it from the life form?"

"Yes You know how much that darned lizard has inside of it."

"Good. Good. Well, let's do this now. I hope this works." He remarked, thrusting his bodyweight forward and standing up.

-Sick Bay-5 minutes later-

"Japheth, this is it. I hate to be blunt, but…this may kill you." Gerald said, standing over his patient and holding the vile.

"I-" He heaved again, much faster as if he was struggling to capture any oxygen at all. "don't…careeee."

"Nurse, prepare to monitor him. Don't overlook any information!"

"I will sir."

"And don't overlook anything!"

"You already said that sir."

"I did, didn't I?" The scientist mused to himself, and then pulled up the shirt on the boy's body. His chest was covered in red and purple blotches, showing where blood and broken through the vessels and tried to re-heal. All of this the case of a common cold interacting with NIDS. The entire body turned against itself, trying to kill itself. He had to hope this pure, perfect energy could work.

"Injecting." He said, pushing the needle carefully between two of his upper ribs on the left side, getting as close to the sternum as he could. The needle entered into the heart of the young boy, and several alarms went off as he threatened to go into Cardiac Arrest from the sudden intrusion. The gloved thumb of the old man pressed down on the needle, and the vein of glowing…energy was pushed into his blood stream.

"Gerald, you should look at this!" The nurse called out, and Gerald ran over to the monitor that she was looking at. Behind his glasses, his eyes widened. The up-to-date X-Ray showed the white Chaos Energy going to the lungs, cleansing them of the bulk of the disease and spreading through the entire blood stream, catching and annihilating every bit of imperfect tissue, whether it be scarred, damaged, or just in err. The energy completed full circle through his body, and even his brain, and then passed back through his heart.

"My god! It's working!" Gerald shouted, looking up at the boy as the pigment flowed back into the boy's face.

"No it's not sir! His Brain and heart!" She stepped back. "It's to much! It's going to blow!"

"I'm ready!" Japheth shouted out loudly. "OH God, Just kill me!" It had not caught the doctor's attention at first, but obviously the cleansing process had caused overwhelming pain for the young boy, despite how healthy his voice suddenly sounded.

"He's going to have a Heart Attack!"

"God, please bless Maria, and Mom, and Dad! And the Doctor please…But just kill me now!"

Dr. Robotnik ran across the room. "Japheth, stay with us! You can still make it!"

Suddenly the young man's chest rose involuntarily, and he cried out with a pain that sounded as if his very soul was being torn form his body.

"His heart! It's, it's-!" the nurse shouted in shock, unable to speak the horrors she was witnessing through the monitor.

"Tell me Nurse!" Before she could finish though, the exposed skin where he had injected the needle suddenly turned redish-white from all the Chaos-filled blood, and the skin broke apart as the blood sprayed upwards. His heart didn't just have a heart attack, it self-destructed and exploded, showering his life-liquid flying through the air.

"Oh God! The young man shouted one final time in pain, pain that no other person may ever comprehend in their life, and then his entire body slumped down. Blood began trickling out of his mouth while the gapping hole in his ribs where his heart had once been bled productively in the new hole, slowly filling it up.

"Doctor…he's…"

"I know Jane." Robotnik remarked, standing up and stepping back, removing the protecting mask from his face. "He's dead." With his gloved right hand he reached over and shut the boy's eyes.

The two of them stood there for several minutes straight, still in shock.

"Why. Why?" The doctor turned around, back to the boy's body. In anger he slammed his fist into a tray containing unused operations tools, said tool jumping from the hit and some landing on the floor. "We did everything we could! And it didn't work! He didn't have to die, and his death didn't even help contribute to society!"

"I'm sorry sir. Maybe we could…"

"No nurse! I'm not going to make a biological super-virus out of the Chaos Energy, no matter how much America wants to pay me for it!"

"At least…he won't have to suffer any more. His brain will totally shut down in a few minutes, making him full dead."

"He's still alive?"

"Sir, his brain is still sending out messages. The pain that had been going through his body had overloaded the nervous system, except for the brain, brain stem, and the spinal cord. But although that may be the case, his…essence is gone."

"If we could save his brain…and nervous system!" He turned and faced the nurse. "We could put that forward for the Ultimate Lifeform project!"

"You said that after the Biolizard you weren't going to continue that anymore. Sir."

"I wasn't serious! I still have things in progress to try and work it out, but I have to figure out what to fuse human DNA and animal DNA with so they don't destroy each other!"

"Sir?" She looked at him, raising her eyebrow. She was only an assistant nurse after all, not skilled in anything but handing the correct things to the doctor and saying what the advanced screens of ARK's computers were showing.

"Nurse, put his body on ice before he's totally dead! We can still save some of him! His death won't be a total waste! He can still help Maria!"

"Sir?" She asked in confusion again, but still opening a freezing chamber on the side of the room.

"Your death won't be pointless Japheth. I promise." The Doctor said to himself, almost as if he thought the young boy was still alive and could hear him.

With that, a low buzz sounded from a control panel by the door. Gerald Robotnik walked over to it, putting his fist on the button. "Dr. Robotnik here."

"Sir, the Black Comet is now within Contact range. When should we send a probe?"

Already the gears in the Doctor's mind changed pace to work for his other project. "I'll be there in a few minutes. Don't launch the probe until I'm there!" He removed his hand from the button, and with a yank pulled the bio-hazardous protection mask off of his mouth, tossing it into the toxic-chemical disposal. Following it with his blood-stained apron and gloves, he couldn't get out soon enough. Maybe he also was moving so fast because he needed something to take his mind off of the death.

* * *

-Probe Control Room-25 minutes later-

Gerald stared hard at the large screen with his co-worker on this project. "At least something is going to go right today." The lines on the screen outlined the Black Comet with green, the dust trail behind it with gray, and the probe with blue. "Let us just hope that the dust has the qualities that refract light like it does so well."

"Japheth didn't make it, did he?" The Italian asked apprehensively.

"No he didn't Caesar." The doctor removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes, then replaced them. Rather he was just rubbing his eyes or trying to cover up tears Caesar wasn't sure, but a slight beeping from the screen diverted his attention.

"The probe is in the dust-trail sir! It's catching the particles sir!"

"Good. Good to know."

Suddenly a fourth color of line appeared. It came from the 'back' of the comet's body, stretching outward quickly and then suddenly making contact with the blue octagon-line pattern that had represented. The red line faded away shortly afterwards, but the blue pattern flashed on and off, stating that signal was lost.

"It…was it destroyed?"

"Could that thing be inhabited?" Robotnik asked himself.

"How could a Comet be inhabited?"

"Don't ask sir! I know it seems sudden, but we need to try and make contact! It might be friendly!"

"Doctor, it just destroyed our probe."

"But still, it could have been a slight misunderstanding!"

"There is no need."

The voice that had answered chilled the two men to the core. It sounded from behind them, deep, dark, and menacing. And not human. Slowly, very slowly the two turned around to look at the responder.

The creature was tall, maybe 7 or 8 feet. It had three ghastly eyes, and it's head looked like that of a pick-axe head. It wore black and red robes that adorned it's body richly, and it's arms hung out of the gaping holes, ending in two chubby fingers and a thumb. Most noticeably, it floated in the air. The room was silent as the two men stared at the alien being, neither human knowing what to say.

"I am Black Doom."

* * *

I know, it seems like I'm rushing things here. But I want enough of this done so that way you readers will stay with me and think that we have gotten somewhere with this. But now a lot of this really makes sense now, does it not? I hope you enjoyed this, so REVIEW! And again, HAPPY SHADOW DAY!


	3. Birth

Okay. Now our story's main subject will appear in this chapter's second half. But please, don't just skip over the first part because of that. I'm trying to make every part of this story important! Enjoy, and HERE WE GO!

* * *

-United States Space Colony ARK-June 19th, 1952-Scinetific Operation Room-

"Be careful. I don't want my creation destroyed." Black Doom telepathically spoke through the glass. ON the other side several humans and Black Arms aliens alike were seen carefully cutting open the back of Japheth's body on one table. ON a different table, a specially prepared mutated creature was laid, it's own back spliced open while dark red blood coated the back of it's body.

"I knew his death wouldn't go without purpose." Gerald said to himself, standing to the side of the 8 foot tall alien being and starring through the glass also at the scene.

"What?" The tall alien being turned to him, his voice carrying a tone that demanded an answer.

"It doesn't matter." The old scientist remarked. Things had taken turns for the best and worst on the same day, and he was somewhat numb to things such as voice tone.

"We have successfully removed the spinal cord from the back of the test subject." One of the masked scientists remarked, stepping away from the process and talking through the microphone.

"Good. Good to know." Gerald said back.

"Be careful not to damage the new brain of the creature." The ruling extraterrestrial remarked, and on the other body several Black Arms soldiers carefully removed the brain of the mutated hedgehog from the back of the creature's skull.

"It will be made of Alien, Animal, and Human DNA." Three eyes from the alien faced the Doctor. "And fueled primarily by Chaos Energy. It will be perfect."

"I thought you humans didn't believe in perfect."

Gerald looked at Black Doom, and snorted. "It will be as close as we can possibly get."

As the two species conversed, through a small window on the door into the observation room from one of the ARK's halls, a pair of young eyes stared. One Blue, One Brown. And they watched in fear.

* * *

-? POV-

Darkness. Warmth. Seclusion.

'_What am I?'_

Perfect. Pure.

'_What is this?'_

Life. Warmth draining away. Cool., colder. A Light pressing sensation. Open your eyes.

My eyes opened. I was inside…something. The surroundings were tinted various colors. How did I know this? Why was I asking questions?

The clear substance is separating, raising. Another light press of coolness from beyond the solid, clear substance.

"He's alive."

Alive? This is life? Why am I here? Who is this?

"The Ultimate Lifeform. We've finished it."

One of the animate things moved toward my location, the extensions of his hands making a slight clicking noise. "Can you hear me? Nod first."

Nod?

"If you can hear me, move you head up and down."

I moved my eyes, looking down at myself. I was still bolted in by somewhat warm metal around my arms and lower legs. Raising my eyes, and my head back up, I looked at the thing that had communicated with me.

"What…am I?"

He stepped back, and then with his hand slapped the middle part of his leg. Following that was a series of strange sounds from his throat and mouth.

"Ha! You are perfection!"

A different being came up to me, it sprouted strange gray matter from it's face. "You are…The Ultimate Life form."

I would of moved, but my hands and legs were still connected to the object I was in. "What?"

"All will be explained later." His hand moved out of sight of the thing I was in, and a high pierced noise was heard, followed by a stranger sound from the metal that held me as it removed itself from me. "Come with me." The other hand of the being reached forward, and with a bit of effort, I moved my hands forward to touch his, trying to mimic his movement.

When they touched, I felt that his hand was cold, but not forbidding. The extensions of it's hands wrapped around mine, and the being slightly tugged. I moved my leg forward, the one that was underneath my outstretched arm.

My feet landed on the ground outside of the object I came from, and my foot landed on the ground. Extensions from it clinked against the floor, and when my second foot touched the ground, I started to find myself moving beyond my control.

"He still needs to balance his equilibrium! Grab him!"

Two other beings reached forward, one touching my other hand and the other touched the sides of my body. They touched me steadily, and led me forward.

* * *

I know, short, but I think this in itself was good enough of a starting chapter. I think it was at least. Review, because I still have more to do! And one more time, HAPPY SHADOW DAY!


End file.
